Commentary on the Book of Job part sixty eight

                                         Job 28:1-28

In Luke 17:20-21, Jesus informed some evil Pharisees that "the kingdom of God is within you." By this statement, Jesus could only have meant that they retained a good and living image of God within each of them even though they had given themselves to evil practices.

Luke 3:2-18 relates the beginning of the ministry of John the Baptist. At first, John the Baptist preached water baptism to symbolize repentance for the remission of sins. The water symbolized the power of the Holy Spirit to daily cleanse repentant sinners. John knew that water baptism did not accomplish a complete, spiritual salvation. So when those whom he baptized asked him what they should then do, John advised them to depart from evil and to do good works.

John seemed to realize that his water baptism did not represent a complete, spiritual salvation, but it did seem to represent some form of salvation. In Luke 3:6 John said: "And all flesh shall see the salvation of God." By the word "flesh," John had to have meant all humans who are alive with recreated bodies. The word "see" here means "to gaze at with awe and wonder." John the Baptist may have prophesied about the great worship service in Revelation 5:11-14 and the resurrection of the living from the dead as recorded in Revelation 20:5. In this tremendous worship service, God will reveal Himself to all He has ever created, including those "under the earth;" that is, all of His living souls and spirits confined within the regions of the dead. These living souls will become so overpowered with the awesome majesty of God and His Love for them that they will all chose to repent and return to faith in the Lamb of God whom they will recognize as the only One who can save them. These same living souls God will resurrect in Revelation 20:5 for Him to recreate to live on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:1-5.

John the Baptist also taught in Luke 3:9 that a time will come when God will gather His "good fruit" from His "trees." The word "trees" symbolizes every human. The "good fruit" symbolizes the good works of all of God's living souls that He created. But John also taught that a "tree" exists within every human that bears no fruit at all. This barren "tree" symbolizes the totally evil part of every humans' nature which God will separate from His living souls in the end of the world for Him to cast into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:8. Because John the Baptist seemed to feel that those whom he baptized would in the future receive a lesser form of salvation, he advised them to do good works so that they would receive greater rewards from God whenever this lesser form of salvation would occur. Revelation 22:11-12.

But when John the Baptist saw Jesus arrive, he immediately recognized that Jesus was the Savior who would provide a complete, spiritual salvation for all who would believe in Him because He would baptize them with the Holy Spirit. In other words, John recognized that Jesus could provide salvation by grace which is the highest form of salvation. But John also said that Jesus would "baptize with fire." By this phrase, John seemed to feel that Jesus also held the power to provide a lesser form of salvation; that is, a salvation in which He will use His consuming fire to separate His living image in all humans that He created and can never lose from their dead and totally evil natures for Him to cast into the lake of fire. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:8.